After the Rain
by Suki-Itami
Summary: A story I found in the archives of my computer from last year. Gaara/OC
1. Prolouge: Before the Rain

_I never really thought about how I would die. Strange, normally an assassin would think about death all the time, but not me. I only thought about it when I was killing. I don't remember much from that day, just blood, my blood, staining the ground and my killer. And then, darkness surrounded me and I was dead._

…

I opened my eyes and I was lying in a hospital bed. I looked on one side of my bed and saw a heart monitor next to me, it read normally, I saw that I was hooked up to it but couldn't remember why I was. I looked on the other side of my bed and saw a breathing respirator, I was also hooked up to this. I looked up at the pale white, tiled, ceiling with weary eyes and tried to sit up. I noted that I wasn't in my normal clothing, I was in a blue hospital gown, which was obvious when I felt rather uncomfortable.

Gaara, who had been sitting next to my bed sleeping in a chair until a second ago, (this is after the Shukaku is out of him), caught me as I nearly fell back down. He was wearing a red baggy shirt and dark red sweats, he must've been here for a while to change into that; his red hair seemed a bit tousled from worry, I assumed.

I looked over at Gaara and smiled as best I could.

He smiled back and brushed a strand of my black bangs – with red tips – out of my face. "Rin…what are we going to do with you?" Gaara asked me, hugging me, one of his hands with on the back of my head, in my brown hair.

I hugged Gaara back, still smiling. I knew who Gaara was referring to when he said "we"; our friends Chi and Neji. They were boyfriend and girlfriend, like Gaara and me, and they cared about us like we cared about them. We were like a dysfunctional family, we might as well have been; we acted like it.

Chi was lying in a hospital bed just behind Gaara, alongside Neji, just sleeping. Her short red hair was in her face, as Neji's long brown/black hair was in both of their faces. Chi's purple long sleeved hoodie looked wrinkled. Neji had taken off his white long sleeved shirt and hung it on the bottom of the bed. He only had his pants on. Both of them looked so peaceful in their sleep, but I knew they must've been as tired as Gaara was if they were here for who knows how long because of me.

Gaara let go of me, as I sunk back down into the bed and lay down again, and sat back down in his chair, still smiling at me. "Tsunade said that you could take off the respirator when you woke up. That was just to keep you alive while you were unconscious."

I nodded and took off the respirator. For some reason, I didn't feel all that talkative, as I normally did, it felt strange to me and I didn't know why I wasn't talking.

Gaara lie down next to me in my bed and put his arms around my waist. "_If lie here, if I just stay here; will you lie with me and just forget the world?_" Gaara sung with a smile.

I continued to smile back and put my arms around him and buried my face into his chest.

Gaara put his face in my hair, I could feel it and I was happy for that feeling. A feeling that I didn't ever want to lose. "Gaara…"

I heard a soft snore coming from Gaara; at first I worried, but then remembered that Shukaku was no longer inside of him and relaxed again.

I shut my eyes and tried to sleep, but couldn't. The fact that I couldn't remember why I was in that hospital bed in the first place annoyed me and I couldn't sleep.

I sighed and just laid there in Gaara's arms happily. I figured that Gaara must've been worried about me for however long I was unconscious and that's why he fell asleep so quickly.

I shut my eyes again and it all came back to me, the reason I was here.

…

_I had been crying for days now, I knew that "he" would be coming back to torture me even more. I know who he is, I was even his friend before this happened, but I refuse to call him by his name because of what he's doing to me._

_I'm curled in a ball, under the covers of a large, king-sized bed, crying. I don't really know where I am, I just know that I'm in "his" house, and that alone makes me cry even more._

_Why hasn't anyone come for me yet? Do they even know I'm gone? Do they know where I am? Where is everyone?!_

_The door opens and in "he" steps, he's acting like he knows how to stop pain. He gives me such a soft look, but I'm not a fool, that's how he tricked me into coming here in the first place and now I'm his "prisoner". I can see why everyone who knew the real him wants to kill him, all he does is cause pain. He shouldn't act like he can solve pain when he causes it, I never did understand why he caused pain when he is a victim of pain himself._

_He sits down next to me and says, "Do you not like how I treat you? Are you dissatisfied with me?"_

_I just nod._

"_I see…" He says, a smirk now implanted on his face. "Well, how can I satisfy one such as yourself?"_

_I didn't answer._

_He sighed. "I guess I can always just go with the usual." He pulled back the covers and saw I was wearing a torn and tattered short, light red, dress that he had been making me wear ever since I arrived. "So pretty on you."_

_I tried to cringe away from him as he grabbed my arms and pinned me to the bed. I looked at him with fear, as I had been for the past few days. He tore off the remainder of the dress and smiled. I hadn't been allowed by him wear undergarments ever since I arrived, so it made things easier for him._

_He cuffed my hands to the bedposts, as he always did, and started taking off his clothes. Once he was naked, I knew what was coming and tried to be ready for it, but there is no way to be ready for something like this._

_He leaned forward and laid down on top of me and smiled evilly. "Does this make you feel better?"_

_Tears started coming from my eyes even faster as I shook my head swiftly._

_He pushed himself up with his arms but kept his waist lowered, I could feel him putting himself inside of me and started crying even more and even started to scream a little._

_He laughed as I screamed, he enjoyed this, I know he did, he always did. His eyes suddenly became filled with evil intentions as he started thrusting into me._

_I was praying that someone would save me. I didn't want this to continue; I was scared and it hurt so much! It wasn't the first time he had done this to me but I could never get used to this, __**never**__._

_Then, as if finally answering my prayer, Tsunade, Gaara, Chi, Neji, and some of the ANBU rushed inside._

"_Sasuke Uchiha, you're under arrest for kidnapping and rape!" Tsunade said in a demanding voice._

_Sasuke stood up and faced the wall._

_Chi ran over to me and uncuffed me and put a blanket over me as Neji sewed it up quickly._

_Gaara was glaring at Sasuke, who had underwear on by this point, with all the hate in the world. I could tell he was resisting the urge to kill Sasuke because Tsunade told him, as Chi told me._

_As they were taking Sasuke away, he smiled evilly at me and said, "Thanks for the enjoyment, love."_

_I stood up and sank into Neji's arms._

_Neji put his arms around me protectively and glared at Sasuke. Chi stood in front of Neji and me with a kunai knife in her hand, ready to kill Sasuke if necessary._

_The ANBU and Tsunade quickly escorted Sasuke away and I was glad for that._

_Gaara walked quickly over to me and took me out of Neji's arms, hugging me, and didn't let me go. "I shouldn't have let this happen."_

_I didn't say anything but passed out in Gaara's arms._

…

I opened my eyes quickly and started crying into Gaara's chest, I realized why I was there and why I didn't feel like talking. It was because Sasuke had raped me for days and I was so depressed about it.

I guess me crying woke Gaara up, because the next thing I knew Gaara was whispering in my ear, "It'll be ok, he's gone now. I won't let this happen you ever again. You're safe with us."

Even though I knew Gaara wasn't lying, I couldn't take comfort in his words and I cried still. I know why Gaara has always been so protective of me; I had never realized before that people would seriously do things like that to me with Gaara being my boyfriend. I guess I was wrong.

…

Next Time:

Imaginary;

Rin is released from the hospital but she still can't face anyone who was friends with Sasuke; Naruto and Sakura. And when Gaara decides to kill Sasuke, he could find himself causing rain to pour upon Rin's heart.


	2. Imaginary

In my field of paper flowers/And candy clouds of lullaby/I lie inside myself for hours/And watch my purple sky fly over me

~Evanescence – "Imaginary"

…

I continued to cry into Gaara's chest, even as someone walked into the room. I had felt their chakra and their presence, and I knew everyone else had as well.

The person cleared their throat. "I see that she's finally awake, that's good." It was Tsunade, I could tell by the rare relief in her voice.

I lifted my tear-stained face to see her; her long blonde hair was up in a high ponytail, she wore a gray kimono top that had a low cut in the front and white pants. The necklace she wore was around her neck, though I couldn't see it all that well from where I was.

Tsunade looked at Gaara and me and walked over to us.

Gaara sat up with my arms still wrapped around him and one of his arms around my shoulders.

Tsunade sat down on the other side of me and gave me a one-armed hug. "Good to have you back, Rin."

I nodded in reply; I still didn't feel like talking.

"Lady Tsunade, have you given you-know-who the death penalty?" Gaara asked hopefully. I knew whom it was he was talking about but didn't make it known.

Tsunade shook her head. "As much as I, and you guys, would like that, the judge only gave him five years in the Land of Fire penitentiary."

My eyes grew wide with shock; I was hoping he'd get life in prison or the death penalty. I was now holding back even more tears as I heard this news.

"WHAT?! ONLY THAT?!" Gaara shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Gaara, please calm down, there're other patients right next door to this room." Tsunade said calmly.

"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN WHEN THAT BASTARD IS GOING TO ROAM FREE IN FIVE YEARS?!" He continued to shout. He had stood up by this point, causing me to let go of him.

"Gaara, why can't you stay quiet for just a little while?" Chi asked, yawning and sitting up. Gaara's ranting had obviously woken her and Neji up. "If you want to go to sleep just say something, don't yell."

Neji sat up. "Yeah, seriously." Neji said, annoyed at the wake up call.

Chi looked over and saw that I was awake. She jumped over Neji and sat down next to me. "Rin! You're awake, I'm so happy that you're okay!"

Neji stood up and walked over to the other side of the bed and gave me a one armed hug when Tsunade moved. "Good to have you back."

I just sat there silently.

Neji and Chi exchanged worried glances and both hugged me like I was something to protect, something precious to protect.

I hugged them back and held back tears that threatened to break through the floodgates behind my eyes.

"She can leave whenever you're ready." Tsunade said. "And Neji."

Neji looked over at Tsunade.

"You might want to put a shirt on before you leave." Tsunade said laughing a little, referring to the footprint that Chi had implanted on Neji's chest a few moments ago.

Neji's face turned red and he nodded.

Everyone, including me, laughed at Neji as he put his shirt on and Tsunade left.

Chi stood up and grabbed some clothes out of a suitcase, handing them to me. "Grabbed you some clothes, knew you'd need them."

I took the clothes and realized that they were my normal clothes. I stood up and walked into the bathroom to change, when I came back out I was wearing a blood red hooded jacket over a white tank top, blood red capris, and my Sand headband was around my neck.

I noticed a shuriken holster was sitting on a bedside table, and that everyone else was wearing one, this one was mine. I walked over to it, grabbed it, and put it back on my leg. No one stopped me; they knew that I just wished to act as if none of this ever happened, to move on and become the ninja I was once again.

I walked over to Gaara, Neji, and Chi, who were standing in a group by the door, and nodded. Neji handed me my blood red zori and I put them on my feet, thankful for the feeling of my clothes, my headband, and my zori once again. They had all gotten back into their normal clothes as well; Neji had his Leaf headband around his forehead again and Chi had her Leaf headband around her neck again, Gaara had changed back into a dark red long-sleeved shirt with a net shirt underneath, a light gray vest that clasped in the front, and dark red pants, his Sand headband around white cloth that wrapped around him from his left shoulder to the right side of his waist; it once held his gourd to his back, but he didn't need his gourd anymore so he just wore it for something to put his headband on.

We walked out of the room and the hospital; we had been on the first floor. Once outside, I saw that the village of Konoha was acting as if nothing had happened at all. The four of us walked farther into Konoha and stopped in front of a guy's bathhouse.

Neji and Gaara threw us apologetic looks and walked inside the bathhouse.

I looked at Chi with a confused look on my face.

"We were all at bathhouses when Lady Tsunade and the ANBU found out where you were." Chi explained. "When we were told, we dropped everything, got dressed, and ran off with Lady Tsunade and the ANBU."

I nodded, now I knew that Gaara and Neji had forgotten their stuff at the bathhouse and needed to get it back.

"We're going to the girl's bathhouse next, I assume." Chi said with a sigh.

"Rin. Rin, is that you?" Someone asked, walking up to Chi and me.

I looked over and recognized the pink hair and red outfit immediately; Sakura.

Sakura stopped beside where Chi and I was standing. "It is you, I'm glad that you're ok."

I tried to ignore her; I didn't want to see one of Sasuke's friends' right now.

"Are you okay?" Sakura asked; there was genuine worry in her voice, but I didn't care.

Chi must've seen this because she shouted, "Get lost Sakura! Just go away!"

Sakura didn't go away though, in fact, she ignored Chi. "I'm really worried about you, if there's anything I could do to help…"

I muttered something that nobody could hear, not even myself.

"What?" Chi and Sakura both asked.

I didn't say anything at first but then said, "I said; go away Sakura! I don't need your help! I'm not going to stoop so low as to ask for **your** help!" I glared at her with the eyes of a murderer, an assassin.

Sakura got the message and ran off.

Chi smiled at me. "Good work, Rin! Now you don't have worry about her!"

I smiled back, happy that I was able to still stick up for myself after what happened.

"Who scared Sakura?" Someone asked, approaching us again.

I looked over and saw the blonde hair that was cut in tufts and the orange jumpsuit; Naruto.

I sighed, as did Chi, and we both asked, "What do you want Naruto?"

"I want to know who scared the hell out of Sakura." Naruto said. "Plus I wanted to apologize to Rin for Sasuke."

I became pissed off and sad when he said that. I grabbed Naruto by the neck and pinned him to the nearest building. "How could you approach me and say **shit like that**?!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "Sasuke doesn't want to apologize, he never **will** want to either!" I glared up at Naruto with the same eyes as I glared at Sakura with, the eyes of an assassin.

I could see the fear in Naruto now, he knew who I was, just like everyone else. I was the assassin of the sand, at least, that's who I once was. I didn't do family killings or mercy killings, but if you hired me for the right job I'd kill just about anybody for some cash. The assassin of the sand used to be the assassin of the leaf, but when I met Gaara when I was doing a job, that changed and I became the assassin of the sand. Before Gaara came into my life I was the ultimate assassin and nobody could stand up to me, I was thirteen when I became an assassin; I had graduated the academy when I was eleven. Ever since, I've been an assassin and only let my guard down when I was sure I could. But everyone slips up and that's what caused me to be captured by Sasuke. I used to be comfortable around him because he was a friend of mine, but not anymore.

"Okay, okay, I'll leave you alone and never talk about Sasuke again." Naruto said, his voice held a slight waver of fear in it.

I pushed Naruto against the building harder, threatening to break his windpipe. "Don't ever say that name around me again!"

Naruto was gasping for breath but I could tell by his eyes he wanted to say that he wouldn't if I let him go. I let go of his neck and let him drop to the ground. Naruto was gasping for breath, but once he caught his breath he ran off in the same direction he had come from.

I looked at Chi, who had been watching from behind me the entire time. She looked half amazed, half terrified.

It was true that I rarely showed my true nature around other people but when I did, it tends to scare them.

I gave her a reassuring smile.

Chi smiled back. "Very good, I taught you well." She joked.

"Uh-huh. You taught me…?" I joked as well.

Chi and I laughed for a minute, then the boys came out of the bathhouse, each with a small bag in their hands.

Neji and Gaara seemed somewhat relieved that I was laughing, but was confused as to why I was laughing in the first place.

I looked at Neji and Gaara and I smiled at them.

Gaara put one of his arms around my shoulders as Neji put one of his arms around Chi's shoulders. Chi and I exchanged glances, wondering if the boys had heard or seen what had happened.

I decided to ask them. "Um, Gaara, Neji, did either of you –"

"Yes, I heard and saw the whole thing," Gaara said, "and you're right, Rin, he will never be sorry for what he did to you."

Neji nodded. "Yes, no matter what he says, he'll never mean it truly."

I smiled happily, glad that my friends, and boyfriend, always have my back.

Then Kakashi stepped in front of us as we were passing an alleyway. Even though we could only see his left eye, he had a sense of urgency in his eyes. The bottom half of his face was covered by a black mask, he wore the clothes of a Shinobi.

Gaara wrapped his other arm around me as Neji and Chi pulled kunai knives out of their shuriken holsters.

Kakashi put up his hands, signaling that he didn't wish to pick a fight. "I'm just here to tell you that the jail where Sasuke is being held has minimum security, if you wish to kill him, you can just walk in and kill him."

Gaara relaxed a little. "Where is he being kept Kakashi?"

I relaxed a little too, but couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't Kakashi.

"Konoha jail, next to the Hokage mansion." Kakashi said.

"And there's minimum security?" I asked, not buying it.

Kakashi shrugged. "Don't ask me. I just deliver the message." Kakashi poofed away.

Chi and Neji put their kunai knives back in their shuriken holsters and looked at Gaara and me with confused looks.

Gaara shrugged. "Wanna come Neji?"

Neji shook his head. "Sorry, but I can't kill someone that easily, there's no challenge in it."

"Besides, what if Kakashi's lying about the minimum security…?" Chi said.

I didn't say anything for a long time as the other three debated it, but then said, "If you want to kill him Gaara, go for it. If you don't want to help then don't Neji."

They all gave me a weird look, as if I was speaking nonsense.

"But Rin, it's too dangerous." Neji said. "Gaara just can't go jumping around like an idiot or he'll get –"

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" I shouted. "SASUKE **DESERVES** TO DIE!!"

Nobody said anything for a long time after that. The awkward silence seemed to fill all of Konoha and everybody seemed to be looking at me.

Gaara let go of me and I turned toward him. "Don't worry, I'll be just fine." Gaara smiled. "He'll be dead before he knows it."

I smiled back. "Okay."

Gaara looked at Neji and Chi and nodded at them. I could sense them nodding back and Gaara walked toward the Hokage mansion, toward the jail where Sasuke was being kept.

"Lets go." Chi said to me.

I followed Neji and Chi to their home; Gaara and I, about a block away from their house, shared a house so if I decided to go home I could just go home.

But as soon as I entered Chi and Neji's house, I laid down on the couch and fell asleep.

…

I woke up around midnight; Neji and Chi were talking in the kitchen.

"Gaara still hasn't returned." Chi said, worry in her voice.

"I thought Gaara said he wasn't going to be long." Neji said. "What will we tell Rin if she wakes up and he's not here yet?"

I gasped silently to myself. He's not back yet? Where could he be? Did something happen to him? The questions I hated asking myself now rose in my mind. I decided to act like I didn't hear anything and yawned loudly.

I sat up and stretched. "Hello," I yawned, "I had a nice nap. Thanks for letting me stay here for a little while, by the way." I looked over at Neji and Chi.

Chi smiled at me as if nothing was wrong. "No problem."

I looked around, as if looking for something or someone. "Where's Gaara?"

Neji and Chi exchanged glances then looked back over at me. Neji said, "He hasn't come here yet."

I thought of something for a minute. "Maybe he's back at our house, if he is, he's probably wondering where I am."

"Why wouldn't he come here?" Chi asked Neji who shrugged.

I stood up and walked toward the door. "See you guys tomorrow." I said, walking out of the door.

I walked into the darkness, I knew how stupid it was to be walking alone at night after what happened to me, but I had to go home so I could think without having to worry about Neji and Chi worrying about me.

When I could see the house, two kunai knives and three shuriken implanted themselves in the ground in front of me. I stopped immediately and looked behind me to see who had thrown them. There was a figure, but I couldn't see who it was until they got closer; Gaara.

It was true that Gaara had odd ways of getting my attention but that was just out of character for him. Recently anyway. "Gaara?"

When he was close enough, I could see that Gaara's eyes were glazed over. He was possessed, by Sasuke I assumed.

Gaara continued to walk toward me but he had a kunai knife drawn, he wanted to fight me.

I drew a kunai knife from my shuriken holster and jumped in the air. Our battle began at that moment.

Gaara jumped into the air too and our kunai knives clashed, sending a small rain of sparks from metal hitting metal falling down to the earth. The kunai knives flew out of our hands and down to the earth as well.

I drew three shuriken and threw them at Gaara while he did hand signs and shouted, "Sabaku No Requiem!"

I dodged random patches of sand as they flew at me and blocked my shuriken. I jumped from the roofs around the area and finally got close enough to Gaara to be able to land a hit. I drew a kunai knife and a shuriken, I threw the shuriken and, while he was distracted, attacked Gaara with the kunai knife. But instead of me hitting him, he jabbed me in the stomach with a kunai knife.

I fell to the ground, coughing up blood. I pulled the kunai knife out of my stomach and tried to catch my breath.

Gaara's feet met the ground much more gracefully than I had met the ground. "Now you'll die for what you've done." Gaara's voice sounded robotic and somewhat like Sasuke Uchiha's.

I hung my head but I remembered something and jumped back. I wiped my right hand across my stomach where it was bleeding and did hands signs. Then I wiped my stomach with my other hand and did the same hand signs again. Then I put my hands together like I was praying and pulled them apart swiftly. My nails grew out about half a foot and turned blood red. I shouted my family's forgotten Keke-Genki loudly, "Secret art: piercing blood nails!"

…

Next Time:

Tourniquet;

Rin is fighting Gaara, who is possessed by Sasuke, for her life. Whether or not she lives all depends on if she can fend off her possessed love and if she can face it if she kills him.


	3. Tourniquet

I lay dying/And I'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal/I'm dying, praying, bleeding, and screaming/Am I too lost to be saved/Am I too lost?

~Evanescence – "Tourniquet"

…

Gaara looked at the blood nails and laughed as if I was being stupid.

I became confused as to why he was laughing; most people would start freaking out when I used blood nails. "Why are you laughing?"

He stopped laughing. "You obviously don't know what you're doing."

I charged at him, preparing to stab him with the blood nails, I made a direct hit on Gaara's right arm. I became more confident and smiled at the fact that I was able to land a hit.

Gaara winced in pain as the blood nails pierced his skin. But at the same time he laughed.

I became just as, if not more, confused as earlier.

Gaara shut his eyes and opened them again; his eyes had become black, endless pits. I was scared; I pulled the blood nails out of Gaara's arm and backed off, the nails shrunk back to normal size because of the blood loss. In fact, I hadn't realized that until just now; I looked down at my shirt and blood stained it from the puncture wound to the bottom of the shirt. I looked back at Gaara just in time to see him charging at me.

He grabbed my throat and shoved me against a building, his eyes still completely black. "I'll show what you've done to him and who I am."

I couldn't help but stare into his eyes even though every fiber of my being was telling me to look away.

…

The next thing I knew was that I was staring at Gaara, he was on the ground holding his arm where I had stabbed him. Everything around me was, either, black and white, red and white, or black and red. 

_I was scared for Gaara and ran over to him. "Are you okay?"_

_Gaara looked over at me, his eyes were not glazed over like they were in the world of color, and nodded. "Yes, just kill him."_

"_Kill who?" I asked, not understanding._

_Gaara looked at the puncture wound and gasped for breath as it kept bleeding. "Kill –"_

"_Sorry, out of time here." A voice said, it sounded like Sasuke Uchiha's but I couldn't be certain._

_Gaara started fading from my sight and yelled for him but no sound came from my mouth._

Then I saw that I was sitting on the ground of a jail cell. Across the cell was Sasuke Uchiha, just standing there staring at the opposite wall. This must've been the minimum-security jail that Kakashi was talking about. It **looked** like a minimum-security place; it was dirty and grimy and not the kind of place I would ever want to be.

Then, suddenly, the cell was filled with white smoke – the kind of smoke that appears whenever a jutsu is used. I saw Gaara then, he had poofed inside of the cell to kill Sasuke.

Sasuke looked casually over at Gaara.

Gaara laughed like a maniac. "I'll kill you!"

Sasuke faced Gaara to challenge him. "Then get on with it, don't talk about it."

Gaara charged at Sasuke, but Sasuke did a hand sign and Gaara dropped limply to the floor along with Sasuke.

I ran toward Gaara. "Gaara!!" I yelled, but I knew that he couldn't hear me.

Then Gaara stood up, but not Sasuke, Sasuke stayed on the ground.

"This'll be too easy! Rin trusts Gaara far too much to not be relaxed around him." Gaara said laughing, his voice sounded almost identical to Sasuke's.

Then I realized that Sasuke used a possession jutsu to control Gaara to attack me. I stood up and backed against the wall, scared of Sasuke more than ever. If he could take over Gaara, who knows what else this son-of-a-bitch could do!

…

I was staring at Gaara, or Sasuke to be correct, and I felt immediate distain. "Let him go!"

"Let who go?" Sasuke asked, using Gaara's voice.

It disgusted me to know that Sasuke was using Gaara's, my loves, voice and body to kill me. He knew how much I trusted Gaara and knew that I wouldn't suspect anything from him approaching me at night; but he shouldn't have thrown the weapons.

"The weapons that you threw at me." I said, smirking. "Gaara would never try to get my attention that way."

Sasuke became pissed off when I said that and he tried to break my windpipe, but I wouldn't let him. I grabbed Sasuke's, actually Gaara's, wrist and physically made him let go of me. I looked at him with the eyes that many people had learned to fear, the eyes of the assassin of the sand.

Sasuke casually looked at me, as if I was no big deal. I knew that I couldn't kill Sasuke here because that would mean that Gaara would die and I couldn't handle that. Killing the only man who's ever loved me is out of the question; which means that I have to kill Sasuke from his own body. The problem is, I have no idea where this minimum-security jail is! Looks like I have to fight until he runs out of chakra to continue the jutsu or one of us runs out of energy.

I threw two kunai knives and a shuriken at Sasuke and he jumped out of the way with practiced ease, but I had thrown another shuriken in the shadow of the first and he didn't know it. I used the strings I had attached to the shuriken to send it flying toward Sasuke. It hit! But it was a clone, a shadow clone to be exact, it disappeared as soon as the shuriken made contact with it's skin.

I became aware that he could be anywhere and was immediately on guard, but I wasn't expecting one place for him to be.

"Rin, below you." Sasuke said, cutting open my leg with a kunai knife as he flew out of the ground.

I screamed in pain and held onto my leg, which was bleeding far worse than the puncture wound on my stomach, it was bleeding severely. Blood ran down my leg and stained the earth below my foot. I looked up and saw that Sasuke had stained Gaara's arm with my blood as he had jumped up.

Sasuke walked toward me and squatted down to become eye level with me. I was aware that I was breaking out in a cold sweat from the blood loss, but I didn't care at the moment, I needed to escape before I was killed!

Sasuke grabbed my chin with one of Gaara's hands; the normal warmth of Gaara's hand had left completely, replaced by the cold of someone who hated me. "This wasn't very entertaining."

Then I felt the ice-cold blade of a kunai knife pierce my chest and into my heart, I looked at Gaara's face one last time and saw a stray teardrop running down his face. Then I let the darkness come to me and I was dead.

…

Next Time:

My Immortal - Epilogue;

…Gaara...


	4. My Immortal: Epilogue

_These wounds won't seem to heal/This pain is just too real/There's just so much that time cannot erase/When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears/When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears/And I've held your hand through all of these years/But you still have all of me_

~Evanescence – "My Immortal"

…

I opened my eyes and looked around me, I couldn't believe it; I was alive! But…how?

I remembered the feel of the kunai knife as it had killed me, the darkness surrounding me, and then the next thing I knew I was lying down, face up, on the ground. I sat up and looked down at where the puncture wound at been on my stomach, it was gone. The blood on my shirt was the only thing that remained. The gash on my leg was also gone; someone cleaned off the blood, it looked like. I looked around the area to try and find whoever did this and I saw who it was, the body lying there, a note and a small red box next to him. It had been Gaara who revived me.

Tears filled my eyes as I looked at the corpse of my love. "GAARA!!" I ran over to the body and collapsed on top of his body; the note and the box lay just beneath me.

I sobbed on top of his dead body for what seemed like hours then I looked at the note and red box, I picked them up and read the note first, it said:

_Rin,_

_If you're reading this now, it means that I'm dead and that my attempt at reviving you worked. I'm sorry but I couldn't have lived without you and I couldn't have ever let myself rest in peace knowing that I committed suicide without you walking this earth again. I understand that you are sad about my death at this moment, but I had no other choice. Listen to me now, don't commit suicide! I don't care how much you want to die; you must live for both of us. Rin, remember that I will always love you no matter what happens as time passes. I know that you're hurting and it might be hard for you to accept, but please __**try**__ to understand that I did this for you. I want you to carry on and find another person who will love you as I did, so please live on and love another as you loved me as well. Live a happy life until the end of your days._

_Love always and forever,_

_Gaara_

Teardrops dripped on the paper as I cried over Gaara's note, his final words to me that were written permanently down on the fine, thin, paper in his elegant script. I looked at the red box, wondering what could be in it. I opened the box and saw a gold heart on a gold chain, the necklace looked expensive, not something Gaara could've bought whenever he felt. It looked like something bought in the Konoha jewelry store and nothing in there is cheap so it must've cost some good amount of money. Which meant that he had been saving up for this since I had told him I wanted it.

It had only been a month ago when we were walking past the jewelry store and I had seen this necklace. I had told Gaara about how much I liked it and how much it would mean to me to get it from him. I didn't think he'd actually get it! This necklace, that I wanted so bad, I got from him as his final gift to me before his death.

I started sobbing again—no, I did more than sob, I bawled on top of Gaara's cold, dead body. No matter what I had told myself – that it was a dream, some figment of my imagination – I knew all too well that it was real. I wanted to stop crying, to not let anybody know that I was weak, but I couldn't. The number one rule of an assassin is to never let any of your emotions show at any time…but in a situation like this, how could I not cry? I loved Gaara and now he was gone, I couldn't believe myself for saying that in my head. I loved Gaara more than anything in this world and now he's dead, I knew that I couldn't stop crying but for some reason the assassin rule kept popping into my head no matter how much I tried to keep it out.

I looked up at the sky, still blackened by night; fresh tears ran down my face in a cascade of loneliness. Then, almost as soon as I looked up at the sky, something reminded me of Chi and Neji, my beloved friends. I wasn't **really** alone, but I was without my love and that alone made me feel all the more lonely. The world felt less bright, less cheerful, less…less loving than it had been before. I couldn't believe he was dead, not even for a moment did my mind ever let me truly believe he was dead.

I stood up with shaky legs and shut the box with the necklace in it and grabbed the note. I decided that I should go back to Neji and Chi's to tell what happened…but the thing was, I couldn't move from that spot. I was fixated on Gaara; I wouldn't allow myself to even take a step away from him. I had wanted to marry him, have a family with him, and wanted to die with him…but now I can't and I never will, which made it even harder to stay on my two legs now. I wanted to die again, just to be with him but remembered that he wanted me to live and tried to push those thoughts out of my mind.

I heard something on the wind, it sounded like someone calling my name.

I turned around and saw Chi running toward me, even though tears had blurred my vision, I could tell it was her.

Chi ran toward me until she was standing in front of me. "Rin! You didn't answer your phone so I came to see if you were okay…" Chi said in between gasps of breath.

I hugged my friend and cried into her shoulder, I shouted something that even I, myself, couldn't understand.

Chi hugged me back. "What's wrong?"

I was finally able to catch my breath long enough to say, "Gaara's dead!"

Chi gasped loudly and looked over my shoulder, at the body. "There're no wounds except for on his shoulder, but that couldn't have killed him." Chi said to herself.

"He…He brought me…back to life." I said in between sobs.

Chi hugged me tighter, she was sad too. We had all learned to like Gaara at some point after we met him. Chi was an excellent medical ninja and knew that to bring another human back from the dead, it required you to sacrifice yourself.

"A resurrection jutsu." Chi said to nobody in particular.

I was sobbing to hard to even think about saying anything about it so I just continued sobbing.

After I while Neji came and saw everything, Chi explained that Gaara resurrected me from the dead and therefore died. I could sense Neji's own sadness as he looked at me then at Gaara.

Shortly after that, I had no more tears to cry and I sat down on the curb with the red box and the note still in my hand.

Chi sat down next me. "What's that?" She asked.

I opened the box. "His final gift." I said sadly.

Chi looked at the ground, not able to look at the necklace, Gaara, or me. Who could blame her? I would forever be in a depression from losing him and just don't know what I'm going to do from this point forward.

Neji didn't speak at all, he must've not had anything to say that would've helped the situation.

Then, as if on cue, Tsunade walked up the street – what she was doing out this late none of us knew. She stopped in front of us and just looked at the scene and nodded. Tsunade poofed away for a few minutes then came back with three or four ANBU. She began barking orders at the ANBU and they obeyed.

I was fine until I saw them trying to take Gaara's body away, then I started freaking out. "DON'T TAKE HIM AWAY, PLEASE! HE'S NOT DEAD!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, trying to stop them from taking Gaara away.

Chi and Neji had to stop me from stopping them from doing their job; both of them were restraining me from tackling the ANBU to stop them. More tears welled up in my eyes, tears that I didn't think I had, and ran down my face as I continued to shout for them to stop.

Tsunade walked in front of me and held my face in her hands and calmly said, "Please bear with us Rin, we have to do this. We understand that you loved him, but please don't make this any harder for yourself."

After that, I calmed down and sat back down on the curb with Neji and Chi on either side of me. I started sobbing again, knowing now that no matter what I told myself, Gaara was dead and there nothing I could do about it. Chi and Neji both hugged me as I sobbed and sobbed.

~~Two weeks later~~

It was raining a little; lucky we were all wearing black. Me in my long, long sleeved, black dress, the gold necklace was around my neck, black zori that I only wore every now and then felt foreign and awkward on my feet. Chi was also wearing a black dress, but she had her headband still around her neck. Neji was wearing a nice black suit, his headband remained in it's normal place around his forehead.

Temari and Kankuro were not to far away; I had talked with them very little in the past two weeks. Temari had a few tears running down her face, Kankuro was keeping a straight face as much as he could. I, on the other hand, let the tears just run down my face as I held back sobs of agony and pain. For the past two weeks the only relief I had felt was when I was staring at a kunai knife that was covered in my blood. I didn't want to, but I found no other option.

A framed picture of Gaara sat on top of an altar surrounded with incense and white roses. He wasn't smiling in this picture but he didn't look mad, it was a good picture of him.

Chi and Neji were standing on either side of me but left me alone as I had told them to. It was time to go set flowers on the altar and I had a hard time going up there, but I did. I put two red roses that had some teardrops on them on the altar and went back over to where I had been standing.

After everyone had left, I stayed behind with Temari and Kankuro. They had lost their younger brother because of me and I wanted to tell them that I was sorry.

"Um, Temari, Kankuro," I said as they turned to me. "I'm sorry, it's my fault he's dead."

Temari hugged me like a sister, like she always had. "it's not your fault, it's Uchiha's fault."

"But if I had been more –"

"I don't want to hear it, Rin!" Kankuro said more seriously than he had ever said anything before. "It's not your fault, had Uchiha never done that horrible thing to you, this would've never happened. It's **his** fault, not yours!"

I smiled at Temari and Kankuro; they had always treated me like their younger sister, even now. It doesn't matter that to them I didn't kill Gaara because in my mind I still believed it was my fault.

I walked away from the altar with Temari and Kankuro, my older siblings, and I felt a little bit better knowing that they didn't blame me for Gaara's death. But even though I felt a little bit better about that, I knew that it be a long time before I could accept Gaara's death fully. But still having the note and this necklace lessened the pain a little, but not much. Oh well, it was a start.

…

_Outside it is raining, not a single ray of sunlight pierces through the black clouds, and in my heart it also raining still. And as I lie here, staring at his final gift to me, I feel the tears flowing from my eyes and onto my pillow. The note he left behind is on the side table next to the bed. "Live a happy life until the end of your days." part of the note says, as if telling me to move on. Maybe there's light beyond the rain, it won't be as bright as the light before the rain, but there is a light. Now I realize this and the tears stop flowing, it is almost time for the rain to leave. After the rain I will be happy again, for I will find someone who loves me as he once did… After the rain._

…

To Be Continued…

A Ray of Sunlight:

Rin wants to desperately find someone to love her like Gaara did, to get her through the pain…what she didn't expect was finding someone who would give anything to see her smile.


End file.
